Well here’s a bit of news: tomorrow, I board a plane and leave for eight days in sunny Buenos Aires, where The Frenchman is currently business tripping. This voyage popped up somewhat last minute, but as I’ve never been to South America before, and as it’s winter here, and as–who says no to a trip to Argentina?–, it seemed prudent to aprovechar de la situación.

My other exciting semi-announcement is that I’m working toward making Spring Lake Creamery a real live business. I attended a fair this past weekend, and while it was ten degrees below zero thanks to a defunct radiator, the handful of eskimos willing to eat frozen dessert while also frozen themselves seemed to enjoy what they tried. I am continually adding to my list of Winter 2013 flavors. Slowly, I’m working toward making this ambition a reality.

This recipe is a nod to both my upcoming trip, and to my potential ice cream future.

I have a recipe waiting in the wings for next week, when I’ll be far, far away, but I think I’ll let my camera and my mood ultimately decide what you see here next Thursday. Tune in for what strikes my fancy!

a note on the sugar: Dulce de leche is sweet already. Adding the additional 1/2 cup of sugar this recipe calls for pushes this ice cream into “quite sweet” territory. If you don’t have much of a sweet tooth, feel free to lessen the sugar to 1/3 cup.

a note on the jam: Originally, I wanted to make my own jam from kumquats: I thought they would provide an acidic, sweet-sour foil to dulce de leche’s velvety sweetness. But I couldn’t find kumquats. So I turned next to blood orange marmelade. The addition was tasty, but not perfect: while it lent bitterness, it was missing a certain tartness. I was happier after adding raspberry jam to the mix.

You are welcome to experiment with the jams and marmelades you have in the cupboard. You’ll want a bit of acidity, a bit of tang, to counterbalance the dulce de leche.

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 cup cream
• 1/2 cup sugar, divided
• 1 pinch salt
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon dulce de leche, separated
• 3 tablespoons blood orange marmelade
• 3 tablespoons raspberry jam

Procedure

1. In a medium pot, combine the milk, the cream, 1/4 cup of the sugar, and the salt. Whisk to dissolve the sugar and salt into the milk and cream, and then turn on the range. Warm the milk over medium heat, whisking occasionally, until the milk froths up in the pot, about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat.

2. Meanwhile, in a separate small bowl, collect the egg yolks. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar, and give it a good whisk, until the yolks are a lighter shade of yellow.

3. Mix the milk with the yolks: I use a small cup to slowly add the milk into the yolks as I whisk. (It’s important to mix slowly, so that the egg doesn’t curdle.) Keep adding the milk, little by little, whisking as you go without pause. When the milk and yolks are fully incorporated, run the custard base through a sieve. Wash and dry the pot, and then pour the custard base back into it.

4. Again turn the heat to medium-low. Heat the custard base, stirring as you go, until it coats the back of your spoon or reads 165F on a thermometer. Fold in 1/3 cup of the dulce de leche, mixing until it’s fully incorporated into the custard.

5. If you’re short on time, move the custard to an ice bath. If you give it the occasional stir, it should be good and cold in about 45 minutes-1 hour. You could also chill the custard overnight in the fridge, which is ideal.

6. Pour the cold custard into an ice cream maker and mix based on the manufacturer’s instructions, until the ice cream reaches the consistency of soft-serve. In the last few minutes, add the remaining dulce de leche, the marmelade, and the jam.

7. Spoon the ice cream into a container. (Leave as little air between the ice cream and the lid as possible.) Move the container to the freezer, for at least 2-4 hours. If the ice cream becomes very frozen, take it out of the freezer 5-10 minutes before serving.